Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Bronzed and Sculpted

If I had to choose only one cheek product, it would easily be a bronzer. You just can't beat perfectly chiseled cheekbones that look natural and effortless, my top picks at the moment are these four that are equally great for different purposes.

NARS Laguna Bronzer: An all around great, easy to use bronzer that never looks orange or muddy. It does have some golden shimmer running through it that isn't too obvious, but I can definitely notice it. It gives shape and dimension to the face so well and simply just does what it's supposed to do. The only complaint I will ever have about this product is the golden shimmer, now I know a lot of people claim that the shimmer isn't noticeable but it is and I just like my matte cheeks to slim the face down as much as possible. Nonetheless, still a great product.

Kevin Acoin Sculpting Powder in Medium: The newest addition to my stash and the one product I've been lusting after like a mad person. In case I haven't already realized, I really love to use products that give a model-esque contour to the cheeks, so this product was right up my alley! As you can see above, the color is a lot more cool-toned than any of the others which gives the allusion of a shadow just like you would have if you had naturally high cheekbones. I've noticed that this powder is a lot lighter, therefor doesn't show up as much on the cheeks as a bronzer would so I feel like I have to build it up a lot which is also quite difficult because the texture is very rough/ hard and you need a heavy hand to get any product of the brush. I'm still trying to get used to it, so I will update you if I find a better technique.

MAC Blunt Blush: My first ever contouring product and one that seems to never end. Guys, I seriously used this pretty much every day for two years and it hasn't even hit pan. I would recommend this for anyone with medium to dark skin because it can come across too red on pale skin. In addition, you must use the lightest hand, it is extremely pigmented and you can easily end up looking like you have stripes down the side of your face. But it no doubt slims the face down so it gets a thumbs up from me.

NYC Sunny Bronzer: This product struck my attention from all of the hype it received and I would agree that it is a good product for the $3.00 I spent for it, however I wouldn't say it is the best. The main attraction towards this product is that it is affordable but it also receives a lot of attention for being matte, which I love! It can come across a tad bit more orange than any other bronzer i've used but that could also be a good thing to add warmth . Since I paid very little for it, I tend to use it more down my neck.

Ladies and Gents, the time has come. I can now claim that i've found my holy grail brow product. The NYX Eyebrow Pencil in the shade "Taupe" is the current love of my life right now. The shape is perfect (one of those triangle/rectangle squared ends) and the color is spot on, a light brown leaning more towards the ash side than orange.

I had actually discovered this product while shopping my stash one day and was quite skeptical because I had previously purchased it when I had blonde hair, but gave up on it as it was too dark and a tad too warm for my blonde brows (oh lawwwd). But now with my brown hair it is absolutely PERFECT! In the past I have always sworn by using an angled brush with a powder eyeshadow to fill in my brows because I thought a pencil would leave me with, not so attractive, drawn-on looking brows-not the case with this product. The texture is slightly waxy so it goes on lightly and is super easy to use. I find my brows looking so much more professional looking when I use this product and I wouldn't even think to go back to using a powder. Better yet, I paid only $4.99 for it, can't get better than that.